Tasting "Cole Haan's #DontGoHome" party @ Le Poisson Rouge w/ Diplo & Santigold

11:58 pm - Sun, Sep 23, 2012: 3 notes

Tasting “Cole Haan’s #DontGoHome” party @ Le Poisson Rouge w/ Diplo & Santigold

Thursday September 20th, 2012

Music provided by: Diplo, Santigold, Chelsea Leyland and Marc Alan Gray

Cole Haan’s #DontGoHome parties are a sometimes private event being held in random venues around Manhattan using the aforementioned hash tag for pics and comments. This evening’s gathering was taking place at Le Poisson Rouge and entrance was based on guest list only. By RSVPing on Cole Haan’s Facebook page their was also a chance for you to win access to this and other parties.

* “I think my glows are trying to tell me something” - anyone who buys glow sticks

Here’s what our “Tasters” thought. Click the Names to find out more about them.

Zero : Like some of the fashion week parties, I wasn’t sure if I was going to be getting into this crazy shin dig. But as luck would have it, I provided my name to one of the iPad holding door women ( they’re really all over the place now aren’t they? ) and I was well on my way to NOT go home. Or at least that was the idea.

After going down the brightly lit, pink staircase, I was greeted with a giant, semi-translucent billboard of the Cole Haan brand. Interestingly enough, there were female dancers behind this and you could pretty easily see what they were trying to imply with this giant visual. You would be trapped at this party FOREVER just like these dancers trapped behind the glass !! Don’t Go Home literally !

Nah just kidding. There could easily get out through the sides :p

And now I was in. Black lights, neon squares, and refreshments were calling me so I had to hustle through. Along with some thick pumping bass.

I’ve been to some parties where Chelsea Leyland was on the roster but I’ve never actually got to hear her spin before. I kind of regret that now because for an opening DJ, she was really pressing hard and getting some great dance numbers in there. I sat in one corner and just enjoyed her song selection ( reminiscent of the 90’s R and B erra ) and great transitions. Though this is not a negative jab towards her, I feel like I’ve been hearing B.I.G. and House of Pain being thrown into sets lately. Is it just me?

And what a pleasant surprise to go along with some good opening tunes. Bagel bites and some other microwavable finger foods. Also along the bar were bowls of nachos and salsa. I would have been hanging around there but it seemed like every snack station were already pre-occupied by earlier party goers. Dam those free loaders !

Jeez and now there’s an anything open bar? Cole Haan really knows how to throw a party. Now I’m really upset I couldn’t get into the Don Hills bash. Since I was traveling solo tonight, I guess the bottle ( or plastic cup ) would be my plus one for the evening. Sad I know.

So after a couple of drinks and listening to Chelsea keep her smooth rhythms going, it was time for Diplo to step up to the stage. I’m not sure if it was just for him, but the single spotlight really did make him look that much more important than the other musicians billed for the evening.

Of course there were many fans there to who wanted to “express themselves” to his music and they went off as soon as he pumped those whacky beats through the speakers. I’m not a fan of his work per se, but the man gets the crowd going and that’s basically all the matters. At one point he invited girls on stage to do “the dance” and then began scolding some who weren’t even facing the right direction. Priceless.

And now it was time for Santigold. As with Diplo, I’m not exactly a fan but with her, the pitch of her voice just doesn’t do it for me. It reaches that frequency that works but it just kinda of irks me. If that makes any sense at all. But obviously there were many of her followers here tonight and like before, as soon as she started her performance, the crowd was eating it up like the free bagel bites scattered about.

She even brought along with her some cheerleaders to add some more visual flair to her routine. It was a nice touch. Oh and she also got a bunch of people on stage to dance with her. I guess that’s pretty acceptable when you have a gig at Le Poisson Rouge. Their stage has lots of room to move.

So after Santigold finished up her number, surprisingly, Diplo can back on deck to spin more tunes. Can’t say I’ve ever seen this before but I guess they were really milking everyone while the crowd got to a pleasantly drunk dancing state. Which is where I was way before Santi came on.

Probably around 2 or 3, the final DJ for the evening, Marc Alan Gray, got behind the decks and began blasting beats to keep the crowd going.

Sadly though it seemed as everyone was pretty satisfied with their helpings of Diplo and Santigold and began slowly dispersing. I stayed a little longer so as not to ignore what he was spinning and enjoyed a drink while watching the few stragglers still groove on the dance floor.

Since I had started the night at 6, I think it was safe to call this one though. So I headed out past the now empty frosted glass Cole Haan sign. I would be been really impressed if the girls were still there dancing but I guess you can only shake your ass behind glass for so long?

Outside there was a big crowd congregating around a single food truck so I had to investigate.